Woman In Coma Gives Birth

U.S. News to Note

July 27, 2001

CINCINNATI -- A woman who has been in a coma since a car crash eight months ago gave birth to a healthy, full-term girl. It is one of few known cases in the United States in which a woman was in a coma virtually throughout the gestation period and still carried the pregnancy to term, Dr. Michael Hnat, a neonatologist at University Hospital, said Wednesday. Chastity Cooper, 24, of Warsaw, Ky., gave birth at the hospital Monday to Alexis Michelle with the help of labor-inducing medications but no strong pain relievers, doctors said.